Four goals for Pierce as Shamrocks win terrific final

Mullingar Shamrocks 5-13, Cill Óige 2-12

By Gerry Buckley

Despite the game being played in the worst possible conditions for sport in Ballinagore last Sunday morning, the U19 footballers from Mullingar Shamrocks and Cill Óige produced a wonderful contest, with victory for the side in unusual black jerseys due in no small part to four top-class goals from the boot of Gavin Pierce.

Shamrocks were unquestionably the worthy winners, albeit a ten-point margin was hard on the Rosemount/Castledaly amalgamation. The many Doubting Thomases nationwide who fear for the future of Gaelic football would have been enthralled by this terrific end-to-end game, and the good-sized crowd who braved the elements got excellent value for their admission money.

The young Mullingar men had three points on the board by the sixth minute, courtesy of towering midfielder Shane Ormsby (after a mere 20 seconds), the aforementioned Pierce (availing of a quickly-taken free by John Ryan), and Ryan Kelly (a free). The ever-dangerous Pierce was denied a goal by Jack Nally before Cill Óige opened their account via a tricky free conversion from George Kearney. Sean Conlon doubled the losers’ tally at the end of a patient move, but they still trailed by 0-3 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter.

Moments after he had been correctly penalized for a ‘Seamus Darby-like’ nudge as he went in search of a goal, there was to be no denying Pierce his first three-pointer when he availed of great play by Callum Rigney before giving Nally no chance. However, Cill Óige responded in the best possible manner when Adam Keane teed up the impressive David O’Reilly who calmly found the net from close range despite being pressurized.

Scores came thick and fast during the remainder of the first moiety. Kelly (a free) and Kearney (open play) traded points, as did Conlon and Conor Heffernan (both from play). The lively Kearney levelled the game (1-5 each) before a piledriver by his colleague Evan Daly came back off the crossbar.

Shamrocks then outscored their opponents by three points (Ryan from play, and a brace of Luke McCabe frees) to one (a delightful score by Kearney), before opening up an eight-point lead thanks to two rapid-fire goals by Pierce (Rigney again the provider for the first of these). A great solo point by Keane left the side in green and gold trailing by 3-8 to 1-7 at the interval.

Early in the second half, a converted free by Conlon and a fabulous point from play by O’Reilly reduced the deficit. Indeed, with better shooting in the ensuing minutes, Cill Óige could have been much closer before Sean Kerrigan belatedly found the target. Crucially, Kearney was denied what looked a certain goal by tenacious Shamrocks defending in the 43rd minute, and Ryan steadied the winners’ nerves with a well-worked point to put his team five points clear (3-9 to 1-10).

In the 47th minute, Kelly found the net despite his shot being half-blocked, and there was no way back for Cill Óige at this juncture. The hard-working Dylan Franzoni added a point which was soon cancelled out by another marvellous O’Reilly score. Heffernan pointed at the other end before Franzoni teed up Pierce for his fourth green flag of the match.

A routine free from Keane preceded Cill Óige’s second goal in the 55th minute, Andrew Geoghegan on hand from point-blank range after Mikey Curley was unable to hold the greasy ball from an O’Reilly delivery. A Cill Óige ‘45’ came to nothing, and in injury-time Rigney got the point he thoroughly deserved to round off a very enjoyable match.

After the game, Frank Mescall, chairman of the Westmeath County Board, presented the plaque to the joint-captains of Mullingar Shamrocks, Shane Ormsby and Ciaran Kiernan.

Scorers - Mullingar Shamrocks: G Pierce 4-1, R Kelly 1-3 (0-2f), C Heffernan, L McCabe (2f), J Ryan 0-2 each, D Franzoni, C Rigney, S Ormsby 0-1 each.

Cill Óige: D O’Reilly 1-2, G Kearney 0-4 (1f), S Conlon 0-3 (1f), A Geoghegan 1-0, A Keane 0-2 (1f), S Kerrigan 0-1.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Mikey Curley; William O’Reilly, Ben Egan, Adam Glynn; Dylan Franzoni, Dylan Carey, Callum Rigney; Shane Ormsby, Ciaran Kiernan; Conor Heffernan, Ryan Kelly, Adam Boyle; Gavin Pierce, Luke McCabe, John Ryan. Subs used: Donnacha Maguire for Boyle (37), Nathan Cornally for McCabe (47), Ruairí Hickey for Egan (51), Tom Hickey for Kiernan (56), Caoilinn Walsh for Ryan (59).

Cill Óige: Jack Nally; Oisín Egan, Andrew Geoghegan, Oisín Dolan; Eanna Maxwell, Adam Keane, Greg Keaveney; Gabriel Murphy, David O’Reilly; David Loddick, Sean Conlon, Kevin Boland; Sean Kerrigan, Evan Daly, George Kearney. Subs used: Louis Clevett for Loddick (h-t), Cillian Heavin for Boland (53).

Ref: Ken Gunning (St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge).

Examiner's Eye on game

Man of the match

Gavin Pierce (Mullingar Shamrocks): The corner forward’s four goals were superbly taken, but he will be the first to acknowledge the outstanding work by several equally-talented colleagues further out the field in creating his chances. Better known as a hurler, David O’Reilly excelled at midfield for the losers.

Key moment

Ryan Kelly scored the only Shamrocks goal not credited to Pierce, but it was a vital score in the 47th minute after Cill Óige had been the dominant side for a significant period.